By bringing psychology and diversity
to its AI strategies, Google’s chief
decision scientist helps the tech giant
harness its vast data cacheCASSIE KOZYRKOV:CHOOSINGSUCCESSCassie Kozyrkov is much more than
a data scientist – she is Google’s
chief decision scientist, a title that
is as much mission statement as job
description. For Kozyrkov, artificial
intelligence and big data analytics
are far removed from the dystopian
visions of science fiction movies.
She sees them as just a few new tools
used by humans. To make these tools
work better, she brings together data
and behavioural science with human
decision-making.
Born in South Africa, Kozyrkov’s
fascination with data began when she
was a child, entering information about
her gemstone collection into Excel
while her friends played outside. After
moving to the US as a teen, she got a
degree in economics at the University
of Chicago – where she “realised what
incredible possibilities lie in data”.
She would later get degrees
in statistics, neuroscience and
psychology, a combination that raised
some eyebrows. “When I was beingWORK SMARTER NOT BY THE NUMBERSRight: Cassie Kozyrkov,
photographed in June
at WIRED’s Pulse: AI event11-19-WSCassie.indd 80 16/09/2019 09:37